Axa Sells 186,872 Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY)

Axa cut its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 644,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 186,872 shares during the quarter. Axa’s holdings in Royal Bank of Canada were worth $51,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,307,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,588,000 after buying an additional 30,060 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 95.9% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. now owns 570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 9,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Chemical Bank increased its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 46.4% in the 1st quarter. Chemical Bank now owns 7,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 337,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,471,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. 43.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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NYSE:RY opened at $78.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.11. Royal Bank of Canada has a one year low of $65.76 and a one year high of $81.56. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.70.

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.56 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 19.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Royal Bank of Canada will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 24th will be paid a $0.796 dividend. This represents a $3.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 23rd. This is a positive change from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.78%.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on RY shares. Zacks Investment Research lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. ValuEngine lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “hold” rating on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Barclays restated a “sell” rating on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.25.